Peons/PeasantsYer bog-standard Serfs, their primary use is in collecting gold and lumber andBuilding things. If a fight occurs near them, move them all away to safetyImmediately. Always try to keep your Peons behind other units. One of the moreUseful things that Peons do is repair. If one of your buildings is under attack,Instruct a Peon to repair it while the attack is going on. As long as you keep it onThe other side of the building from the attacker, you’ll find that it’s perfectly safeAnd will seriously slow down the rate at which the attacker causes damage.Indeed, get two Peons repairing a building and you’ll have made it practicallyIndestructible. It’s also possible to use this facility to speed up your building bySending Peons to repair a building under construction. Be warned, though: thisWill substantially add to the cost in both gold and lumber.

Orc Grunts/FootmenThese characters are your basic foot soldiers, and you’ll need a few of these at theStart of each level. As soon as you can though, you should stop producing themAnd concentrate on some of theOther more useful units.

Trolls/Elven ArchersThese are the missile units. In hand-to-hand combat they are quicklyOverwhelmed. Always keep them behind Grunts or Ogres (Footmen and KnightsFor the Elves) in battle. If you group them with these other units, keep a fairlyEven mix. When you move to engage the enemy, the Trolls or Archers will stop atA distance while the hand-to-hand specialists move in. In the case of the Trolls,It’s worth producing lots of these early on, as later you’ll be able to buyRegeneration for them.

Both Trolls and Elves should be upgraded vigorously. On later levels theyBecome the best defence against the heavy aerial threat posed by Dragons orGryphons. A couple of well-trained units can be very effective, especially if youDistract the aerial invader with some cannon fodder. Get a Footman or Grunt andRun him around underneath the flying nasties. He’ll probably survive for quite aWhile and your missile chuckers will benefit from the easy target practiceProvided.

Catapult/BallistaMore destructive than the Trolls or Archers, these are also missile-only units.They’re very slow, however, and in defence you should always keep them backFrom any front-line areas, only bringing them forward when an enemy appears.Their greatest use comes when attacking, because of their exceptional range. WithReasonably careful positioning, you’ll be able to take out enemy towers withoutAny danger to the catapult. When attacking with these units, always keep someFoot soldiers nearby. If the catapults come under attack, move this squad in to dealWith the attackers. Then pull them out again and let the catapults do the majorDamage.

Goblin Sappers/Dwarven Demo SquadSurprisingly effective, these units self-destruct when instructed. You’ll find thatTwo of these will take out most enemy buildings. Like the Peons, though, theyShould be kept away from all combat. Keep them in some safe corner until youNeed them. They can also be used to carve routes through to gold mines or forestsBy blowing up mountains. It can be well worth using a couple of these to make aJourney for your Peons shorter, giving you quite a significant long-term timeAdvantage.

OgresOgres are very tough hand-to-hand fighters. As soon as you can, stop producingGrunts and switch to these. Later on you’ll be able to turn them into Ogre MagesAnd research spells for them. However, if money is tight this is one thing that canQuite easily be dropped from your schedule. The Death Knights get much moreEffective magic and the Ogres don’t really get all that much tougher when youMake them into Mages. Keep a careful eye on your Ogre units, which tend to beRather head strong and are likely to charge off after retreating enemy units whenYou don’t really want them too.

KnightsKnights are great shock troops and, as with Ogres, as soon as they becomeAvailable you should concentrate on producing them instead of Footmen. UnlikeThe Ogres, though, they get great magic when upgraded to Paladin status, and it’sWell worth spending the money on research. Two spells in particular are hugelyUseful. First Healing: it can make sense to keep your Knights with healing safelyOut of the way and just bring units to them to have them healed. This is especiallyUseful when combined with Gryphons. The other invaluable power that KnightsGet is exorcism. Use that to pick off any Death Knights you come up against.

MageLike the Death Knight, the Mage should be kept out of close fighting. The MageHas great destructive capability with it's Fireball spell - just be careful there are noFriendly units in the line of fire. The other great spell in the Mage’s armoury isInvisibility. Cast it on a Peasant and get him to walk calmly into your enemy’s lairAnd build a Guard Tower. Or cast it in on a Peasant in combination with FlameShield and get him to wander unnoticed among your enemy’s army, wreakingHavoc as he goes. Or cast it on some Dwarves and get them to blow something up.You’ll have great fun with Invisibility, the only drawback being that it doesn’tFool death Knights, so make sure that your paladins have exorcised them first.

Goblin Zeppelin/Gnomish Flying MachineWith no combat ability whatsoever, these units are just spotters. They’re veryHandy for sussing out enemy strengths and weaknesses, but their major use comesWhen the enemy produces submarines. Add one of these to any naval group youCreate and they’ll be able to spot the otherwise invisible subs, allowing you toAttack them without being spotted.

Death KnightThe Death Knight is an awesome creature, but not really suited to hand-to-handCombat. Try to keep them slightly away from the fighting and particularly anyPaladins. Probably their greatest power is to animate the dead. With the judiciousUse of a couple of Death Knights attached to any raiding party you can turn all theEnemies you defeat into skeleton soldiers at no financial cost. As the enemy getsWeaker, you get stronger.Also very effective is the Whirlwind, but only when cast on very dense areas ofThe enemy’s defences. Unholy Armour is great if you give it to a Sapper unit andThen send it, now invulnerable, to blow up an enemy building or army. It certainlyGets rid of pesky Mages quickly.

Dragon/Gryphon RidersThese great aerial beasts are the finest weapons available. No longer do you needTo build ships to transport your men around. Now you can just fly somewhere andAttack it. Their only real disadvantage is that if grouped they tend to destroyFriendly units with over enthusiastic fireballs, and even each other, but keep themAs loners and they won’t go far wrong.

Naval TacticsThe Troll Destroyer and Elven Destroyer are fast, manoeuvrable ships and stillUseful when they’ve been superseded by the bigger and more powerful OgreJuggernauts or Battleships. The larger ships are much slower and take longer toRespond, so always keep a blend of different ships in a naval group. That wayYou’ll be able to react more quickly to any threat. The Destroyers are also capableOf hitting flying opponents, which makes them indispensable at sea.

The Submarines make a great addition to any naval group as well, but can also beUsed very effectively as raiders in groups of two or three, especially if combinedWith an aerial spotter to watch out for any Towers or flying creatures that areCapable of noticing them. Sending Subs out in advance of a large navy is a greatTactic, as you can pick off enemy ships before they’ve seen you.

One final piece of advice. Towers are very effective against naval units, andYou’ll nearly always lose ships when attacking them. But you can use a TransportInstead. Put three Footmen into the Transport and rush the enemy Tower. LandThe Transport as close as possible to the Tower, then release your Footmen, whoWill attack it and remain safe because the Towers can only attack units at aDistance. Move the Transport out of harm’s way until the job’s done, and thenSend it back in to pick up your heroes.

Sim CitadelThe layout of your buildings can have a crucial effect on the outcome of anyAttack, so take some time to think about where you place them. Always make sureThat your Peasants have as short a route as is possible to the Town Hall or LumberMill, for instance, and build Barracks as near to the front as possible so that yourTroops have less distance to travel into battle.

Towers are an extremely effective form of defence, particularly as they can beEasily repaired when damaged. What’s not so obvious is that they can also be veryHandy in an attack. Building a string of Towers behind enemy lines will certainlyGive them something to think about.

Although you can’t build walls yourself, you do have an option to create veryEffective barriers by using Farms. Farms are not crucial buildings and are prettyCheap to produce. If you want to block off an area against repeated attacks, buildA wall out of Farms and then place Towers just behind it. The enemy will comeAlong and attack the Farms, leaving you in peace to pick them off. Then when theAttack’s over, repair your Farms. Using this tactic it’s possible to just sit back andAbsorb all that the enemy can throw at you until he’s exhausted all his resources.Keep an eye on how much gold is left in his mine by using your aerial spotter.

Filthy cheatThere is a quite splendid array of cheats for Warcraft II. These are just some ofThe more useful. To use any of them, press the ‘enter’ key. Then, when the‘Message:’ prompt comes up, type in any of the following. A word of cautionThough: some of these cheats (particularly the production ones) give the enemy theSame benefits. This is thankfully not true of the invincibility. Typing in the sameCheat code a second time will turn the cheat off.

IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE: Makes all your units and buildings invincible,Except for a few magical attacks.GLITTERING PRIZES: Gives you 10,000 gold, 5,000 lumber, 5,000 oil.VALDEZ: Gives you 5,000 oil.HATCHET: Speeds up the production of wood so your Peasants or Peons get aUnit in only two chops.MAKE IT SO: Dramatically speeds up all building.TITLE: Increases the speed of your units.NOGLUES: Disables magical traps.SHOWPATH: Displays entire map.THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE: Shows the end sequence andFinishes the game.UCLA: Shows ‘Go Bruins!’ message. For no obvious reason at all.

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